(Bloomberg) -- Electricite de France SA may have to curb nuclear output from July 31 as a heat wave warms a river used for cooling a nuclear power station in the southwest of France.
Due to high temperatures forecasts on Garonne river, production restrictions are likely to affect the Golfech plant’s nuclear production from July 31, the utility said in a regulatory filing Thursday.
Levels to which EDF’s plants are allowed to increase river temperatures are strictly monitored and controlled to protect wildlife, although the utility can ask regulators for waivers if France’s security of supplies is threatened.
Restrictions that may affect output at Golfech, where EDF operates two 1,300-megawatt reactors, come as France has regained its position as Europe’s largest exporter of electricity. That’s because EDF has largely overcome unplanned outages that affected more than a dozen of its reactors in 2022 and part of 2023.
However, French electricity grid limitations will constrain power exports from Monday for more than two months, the country’s grid operator said earlier this week.
The potential restrictions for the Golfech plant are a reminder that EDF will have to keep adapting its atomic plants to warmer weather.
Temperatures in the nearby city of Toulouse are set to rise 7C above normal levels by next week — exceeding 40C (104F), the hottest so far this year — according to Weather Services International.
Climate change is bringing record-breaking weather to Europe as the intensity and frequency of heat waves increases. The highest average temperature on Earth was recorded on Monday, according to preliminary data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service.
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